Opinion: Sessions' hard line on pot doesn't help anyone

All the Attorney General is doing is making a polarized marijuana discussion more polarized

Updated 9:48 am, Thursday, March 23, 2017

Attorney General Jeff Sessions isn’t a fan of marijuana. While speaking before federal, state, and local law enforcement about his plan to stem the flow of illegal drugs moving through the country and address the nationwide opioid crisis, he said he was “astonished” by suggestions that medical marijuana might be a cure. “I realize this may be an unfashionable belief in a time of growing tolerance of drug use.

Media: WochIt Media

Many believe the Trump administration will not go after the recreational marijuana market. Though the president has made statements up and down the political spectrum on the subject, he has never once tweeted about it, nor does it seem to be a pressing issue. The metric he seems to stick by is that decriminalization of marijuana is a state's rights issue, which at worst does nothing to clarify the sticky legal gray area these markets are operating within.

But Attorney General Jeff Sessions has not been so modest. He has a long history of being anti-marijuana, in all forms, and saying as much. He bemoans a world where we could buy marijuana in a grocery store, and thought the KKK was OK until he found out they smoked pot.

For the most part, marijuana advocates believe that Trump's disinterest in this battle, coupled with $1 billion in marijuana-related sales since Washington legalized recreational pot in 2012, will protect the plant's legal status. Indeed, there's only been talk about a firmer line on marijuana; he has not made public any specific plans of attack. Most recently, Sessions last week rejected the idea "that we can solve our heroin crisis by legalizing marijuana—so people can trade one life-wrecking dependency for another that's only slightly less awful."

But his harsh stance on marijuana may affect the market in other ways. As Roger Roffman, social worker and marijuana policy activist, notes, it doesn't leave much room for intelligent debate around the substance. Roffman was also a co-sponsor of Initiative 502, the "marijuana reform" legislation introduced on the November 2012 ballot that ultimately paved the way for recreational use.

“Dosages can be constructed in a way that might be beneficial, I acknowledge that, but if you smoke marijuana for example, where you have no idea how much THC you’re getting, it’s probably not a good way to administer a medicinal amount. So forgive me if I’m a bit dubious about that.”

After telling a February 2017 conference of state attorneys general that he is "dubious" about the benefits of pot, Sessions shared: "I'm not in favor of legalization of marijuana. I think it's a more dangerous drug than a lot of people realize." less

After telling a February 2017 conference of state attorneys general that he is "dubious" about the benefits of pot, Sessions shared: "I'm not in favor of legalization of marijuana. I think it's a more dangerous ... more

Photo: NICHOLAS KAMM /AFP /Getty Images

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As U.S. Attorney in Alabama in the 1980s, Sessions famously said he thought the KKK "were OK until I found out they smoked pot."

As U.S. Attorney in Alabama in the 1980s, Sessions famously said he thought the KKK "were OK until I found out they smoked pot."

Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

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In April 2016 he said "Good people don’t smoke marijuana." The then-senator also said just last year that "we need grown-ups in charge in Washington to say marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized... that it is, in fact, a very real danger." less

In April 2016 he said "Good people don’t smoke marijuana." The then-senator also said just last year that "we need grown-ups in charge in Washington to say marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be ... more

Photo: Alex Brandon, Associated Press

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Attorney General Sessions also called Obama's lax approach to marijuana "one of his great failures."

Attorney General Sessions also called Obama's lax approach to marijuana "one of his great failures."

Photo: Pool

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"My view is that crime does follow drugs. In the 70s and 80s, we saw so many lives destroyed by drug abuse. And I think the drugs today are more powerful, they're more addictive, and they can destroy even more lives. Young people had their lives destroyed. I, as you know, am dubious about marijuana -- as states can pass whatever laws they choose. But, I'm not sure we're going to be a better, healthier nation if we have marijuana being sold at every corner grocery store. I just don't think that's going to be good for us. We'll have to work our way through that." less

"My view is that crime does follow drugs. In the 70s and 80s, we saw so many lives destroyed by drug abuse. And I think the drugs today are more powerful, they're more addictive, and they can destroy even more ... more

Photo: ZACH GIBSON, AFP/Getty Images

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"Marijuana is a cure for opiate abuse? Give me a break! This is the kind of argument that's been made out there to just -- almost a desperate attempt to defend the harmlessness of marijuana of even its benefits. I doubt that's true. Maybe science will prove I'm wrong. But at this point in time you and I have a responsibility to use our best judgment, that which we've learned over a period of years, and speak truth as best we can. My best view is that we don't need to be legalizing marijuana." less

"Marijuana is a cure for opiate abuse? Give me a break! This is the kind of argument that's been made out there to just -- almost a desperate attempt to defend the harmlessness of marijuana of even its ... more

Photo: SAUL LOEB, AFP/Getty Images

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Opinion: Sessions' hard line on pot doesn't help anyone

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"My suspicion here is that he's erring on the side of being more political than public-health oriented," Roffman said of Sessions. "Marijuana for a long time has been grist for politicians garnering public favor and votes by claiming to being committed to dealing with the problem. It often comes at the exaggeration and misrepresentation of what's known."

Which is not a small amount of information. But what we do know about the effects and risks of marijuana is easily confused with a lot of misrepresentation of facts -- like, saying that marijuana and heroin are on the same level.

Dr. Beatriz Carlini, senior research scientist at the University of Washington's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute, said that while the stigmas, risks and concerns differ around marijuana and heroin addictions, there's still a nuanced conversation about marijuana dependence that's getting lost in the hyperbole.

"I'm not trying to agree with what Jeff Sessions is saying at all, but we need to also acknowledge that dependence is dependence," Carlini said, adding that the diagnostic measure for addiction is the same across the board. "It's a complicated case and it doesn't matter what caused it.

"Particularly with the industry producing more and more potent products, I'm not denying that marijuana dependency exists. But if you compare it with opiates, the story's different."

Marijuana, for instance, has some medical purpose, whereas heroin does not. Talking about opioids versus medical marijuana is a whole other discussion, before even taking into account the supporting evidence that one treats chronic pain (marijuana) while the other is better for acute pain (opioids). But even in pill form, many worry the over-prescription of the latter has led to an unprecedented addiction to painkillers in many cities across the country, including our own Everett, Washington.

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Conflating heroin addiction with marijuana dependence misses much of the important conversation we need to be having, Carlini said. And while not all obstacles come from the Justice Department, or even the federal government as a whole, marijuana's scheduling is one thing that prevents researchers from better understanding the very harms Sessions is so wary of. Marijuana is still classified as a Schedule I drug (along with heroin), which means that in the eyes of the federal government, it has "no currently accepted medical use."

U.S. researchers can only work with the cannabis supplied by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), which is sourced exclusively from the University of Mississippi, where they've been producing the same cannabis crop since 1968.

"They are provided to researchers in the form of a smokeable joint. Meanwhile there is a way more potent plant on the market ... and people are using more and more edibles," Carlini said. "You cannot test that with what you get from the government; you're doing research with something that nobody actually uses."

That limited scope can cause trouble when coupled with a landscape crowded by misinformation and scientific fact alike, making for a confusing narrative on the benefits and risks of marijuana.

And according to Roffman, the social worker and marijuana policy activist, it sometimes comes from both sides.

"The fact of the matter is, many of the places that purport to provide good information for consumers are also tainted by a kind of political goal to encourage legalization, which can minimize harm and misrepresent what we know," Roffman said. "(But) one of the real problems with marijuana prohibition is that public health and accurate messaging has sometimes been sacrificed to discourage people from using."

This is the sort of place someone in a position like Sessions could make a real difference, clearing the air on a drug that's seeing a monumental shift in public perception already. The legal cannabis industry is raking in billions, and the public should be able to easily access information about what that does or doesn't mean.